written by Lee Johnson – Perth Scuba Manager Another busy month flies by as we all prepare for our upcoming trips to Truk Lagoon and Palau. Courses have been very busy with already 230 new divers since the start of the year and another 70+ students completing Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster courses over the same period. Brunei / Kosrae & Manado Trip Information Night – Tomorrow Night! Don’t miss out on this fantastic set of upcoming dive trips this Tuesday night! After having a presentation from the guys at Brunei Tourism we are very excited at being able to offer this great trip along with other upcoming trips to Kosrae in Micronesia and Manado. Make sure you clear the diary for tomorrow evening. This one is going to be a great night. Hope to see you there! 7pm at Perth Scuba Tuesday 26th March. MSD Update: The Master Scuba Diver challenge is flying along with 25 new Master Scuba Divers already certified and heaps of others who are just a couple of specialties away from completion. The final challenge is sure to be a fantastic weekend with the winner jet setting their way to Sydney for a weekend to visit PADI Head Office and Scubapro Head office to be awarded their prizes. If you would like to participate in the MSD Challenge for 2013, you can contact the store on 9455 4448. You can purchase a complete MSD program for just $1095 which includes 5 specialty courses + FREE Rescue Course. At the end of the challenge as well as receiving an automatic entry into the MSD Challenge weekend, you will be trained in 5 new specialty courses which are guaranteed to hone your diving skills and make you a better and safer diver and dive buddy. If you already have a few specialties, then it’s as easy as completing the specialties of your choice so you have 5 in total and then join Perth Scuba on one of our cool Rescue Courses and once you complete that – you qualify and the Master Scuba Diver certification is FREE!!! Don’t forget you also get a Limited Edition Master Scuba Diver Challenge T-shirt for every specialty you complete with Perth Scuba during the challenge and when you become a Master Scuba Diver, you will be awarded the VERY LIMITED EDITION “Mission Accomplished” T-shirt to show off to all your dive buddies! The Challenge closes on the 31st of May so be quick! Are you up for the challenge??? Oz Tek 2013 Joey and I recently returned from Sydney and Melbourne after a whirlwind 4 day trip to check out the new and exciting dive equipment and opportunities at Oz Tek. We saw some fantastic presentations from some very established and distinguished speakers. We heard how the 1600’s “Mars” wreck was discovered and saw footage of the first dives on the remains of a real pirate ship. The depth of over 100 metres and the cold water temperature close to zero has left this wooden hulled vessel virtually still intact. There was a very large bounty discovered on this wreck so there were some very cool scenes to see on the movie they showed along with the presentation. We also saw a very informative session on the all new Fluoro Diving which we will be telling you all about over the next couple of months. We have all the cool new toys at Perth Scuba… of course! As far as new products – there were lots of new rebreathers and other high end toys available to see. We caught up with our friends from Scubapro who were showing off the latest gear. The new 50th Anniversary Mk 25 S 600 Regulators which are a limited edition run – look great. The new Meridian Black Tek Dive computer watch looked very cool and the Black Tek Mk 25 S 600 regulators were also on show. The new arrival of the G260 Second stage is about to be released and they look awesome ! I am sure the teckies are going to love them. We also visited our buddies from Halcyon who have also just recently acquired DUI Dry suits to add to the range of Halcyon products. The guys – Liam and Robin are very focused on their range and building a new stable of product ranges which will all be exclusive to Perth Scuba & Dive Locker. We look forward to showing you the new ranges as they become available. Lastly on Oz Tek a big congratulations to Liam Allen who took out the prestigious “Technical Diver of the Year” Award. Liam’s contribution to Technical diving is huge and his involvement in so many different projects and research was strongly behind receiving the award. New Perth Scuba Website Coming Soon! The grass doesn’t grow under Joey’s feet and once again she is busy preparing the new Perth Scuba website. The new site will be a little bit more user friendly with our online shop mirroring every single line we carry in store. This means that even if you can’t get into the shop, you can still make any purchases online and have the items delivered to your door. We will also have a few more interactive areas where you guys can submit your Go Pro video footage, photos and heaps more. Perth Scuba in the Awards again!! Last week PADI Regional Manager David Oliver flew over to present the Perth Scuba crew with another award for our efforts. This time we received an award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Dive Industry in Western Australia”. This was for the work we put into the Marine Parks last year. We canvassed fairly heavily with the Conservation Council of WA for more marine sanctuaries and protected areas in and around WA’s South West and Perth areas. I flew to Canberra to meet with a whole bunch of ministers who at the time were looking at the proposed marine sanctuaries which were being rolled out over the state. The meetings went exceptionally well and as a result when the proposed marine parks were announced we got a marine sanctuary at Two Rocks which is going to be a fantastic area for divers to enjoy an area where fishing and taking fish of any type will be banned and the diving will soon become what it should and can be like. I look forward to diving the marine park once it is all officially marked and Perth Scuba hopes to be a part of the marine monitoring team to see the improvements and document the changes that occur once this area is totally protected. It is great to see that you can make a difference. Before we went to Canberra, divers weren’t even consulted in regards to the marine parks. Now we as an industry have a voice. Thank you to everyone who supported us on this massive challenge and this award is as much for you as it is for us. Finally we prepare for our departure to Truk Lagoon and Palau this week with 24 Perth Scuba crew heading off to Truk and 25 to Palau. This fantastic trip is going to be some of the best diving the world has to offer and something I am sure there will be many stories to share when the crew get back! Joey and I will be leading the Truk part of the trip and Josh will be looking after the crew for the Palau trip. We look forward to spending some fun times with the Perth Scuba crew. | 
